EMC has struck licensing agreements with Microsoft that will lead to the introduction a new family of Windows-powered network-attached storage (NAS) products as well as a single management interface for both EMC and Microsoft NAS servers.

Download this free guide

UK IT Priorities 2018 survey results

Download this e-guide to discover the results of our 2018 UK IT Priorities survey, where IT leaders shared with us what they are going to be investing in over the coming 12 months.

By submitting my Email address I confirm that I have read and accepted the Terms of Use and Declaration of Consent.

By submitting your personal information, you agree that TechTarget and its partners may contact you regarding relevant content, products and special offers.

You also agree that your personal information may be transferred and processed in the United States, and that you have read and agree to the Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy.

The company will license Microsoft's Windows NAS software to run on its Clariion CX series of Fibre Channel arrays. The new product line, called NetWin 200, will be available sometime in October and will, initially, run only on the low-end CX200 array.

The two companies also said they would exchange application programming interfaces (API) between Windows Server 2003-based NAS products used at the departmental and workgroup level with EMC's high-end Celerra NAS product.

Bill North, a storage analyst at IDC., said the API exchange would allow EMC and Microsoft customers to use a single console to manage low-end Windows NAS at the departmental level and high-end Celerra NAS at the enterprise level "rather than having to launch separate tools" for each.

"There's a tremendous advantage in using integrated management tools, which is very important for the small and midrange business environment," he said.

Along with the launch of its new Windows Server 2003 operating system last week, Microsoft added a number of storage features, including its Virtual Disk Service, which provides storage suppliers with the APIs to interoperate with the new operating system.

Microsoft also announced storage applications such as its Volume Shadow Copy Service, which allows for the creation of point-in-time copies of storage volumes, ensuring that storage administrators have access to original copies of data in case the data becomes corrupted.

In addition, Microsoft will support for iSCSI, or the ability to back up data over IP networks to storage arrays. According to Zane Adam, Microsoft's director of product management and marketing, the company will offer a free download of the iSCSI software in June.

"The use of Microsoft's storage APIs to manage capabilities like replication and multipath I/O will give EMC customers tighter integration between familiar Windows features and storage based functionality," North said.

The other advantage of EMC's use of Microsoft's API is that they are the same mechanisms used by databases and applications, such as SQL Server and Excel, to interface with storage providers.

0 comments

Register

Login

Forgot your password?

Your password has been sent to:

By submitting you agree to receive email from TechTarget and its partners. If you reside outside of the United States, you consent to having your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States. Privacy